Earlier on Tuesday, R.J. Anderson wrote about Chris Archer, and how he uses "mindfulness" to gain an advantage on the field. Make sure you check that out. Now, here is our daily recap of the world in baseball.

Tuesday's scores

Santana twirls shutout against O's

It's a little too early to talk about Cy Young favorites and things like that, but, if the voting were held today, Twins righty Ervin Santana would be the runaway Cy Young winner in the American League. He's been that good. Here's what Big Erv did against the Orioles at Camden Yards on Tuesday:

A two-hit shutout. Santana also threw a one-hit shutout against the White Sox earlier this season. He's the only pitcher in baseball with two shutouts so far this year. Heck, only six other pitchers have thrown one shutout this season (Tyler Chatwood, Scott Feldman, A.J. Griffin, Corey Kluber, Masahiro Tanaka, Ivan Nova).

For the season Santana is now 7-2 with a 1.80 ERA in 10 starts and 70 innings. Sabermetric measures don't believe he's pitched quite that well (4.10 FIP), though those don't take into account all the weak contact Santana generates these days. Is he a true 1.80 ERA pitcher talent-wise? No, of course not. No one is. But he is awfully good. Santana is definitely a candidate to start the All-Star Game right now.

By the way, the last visiting pitcher to throw a shutout at Camden Yards? It was another Minnesota righty, Carl Pavano. He did it back in 2010. The O's were pretty bad back then.

Pederson, Puig involved in scary collision

Tuesday night, the Dodgers and Cardinals played a thrilling pitcher's duel that turned into an extra innings game. Yasmani Grandal hit a solo home run against Lance Lynn in the first inning, and it wasn't until the eighth that the Dodgers picked up their second hit. Clayton Kershaw took a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning before a wild pitch allowed the tying run to score from second base.

The wild pitch allowed the game to continue, and in the top of the 10th inning, Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig were involved in a scary and violent collision in the right-center field gap. They ran into each other at full speed. Here's the play:

Pederson appeared to get the worse of the collision. He took Puig's elbow to the head, then hit his head against the outfield wall. There was blood trickling down from Pederson's forehead as he walked off the field. He was removed from the game for a pinch-hitter in the next inning, and the Dodgers say he has a neck strain. Puig remained in the game.

Bergman's very bad night

The Nationals came into Tuesday leading baseball with an average of 5.72 runs scored per game, and that number is going up. They hung a 10-spot on Mariners starter Christian Bergman. The pitching line is probably even worse than you expect:

christian-bergman.jpg
Christian Bergman had a terrible night Tuesday. CBS Sports

Yikes! According to MLB.com, Bergman finished with a minus-22 Game Score, which is unfathomably awful. Easily the worst in Mariners history -- Jamie Moyer had a minus-9 Game Score years ago -- and one of the worst in baseball history overall. Here are the last five instances of a minus-20 game score or worse:

Date

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

Game Score

Christian Bergman, Mariners

5/23/17

4

14

10

10

2

0

4

-22

Mike Oquist, Athletics

8/3/98

5

16

14

14

3

3

4

-21

Chubby Dean, Athletics

9/28/40

8

19

16

14

5

1

1

-20

Hod Lisenbee, Athletics

9/11/36

8

26

17

14

4

1

2

-35

Carl Doyle, Athletics

7/28/36

4 2/3

16

15

10

6

1

0

-23

Lots of A's pitchers! They were still in Philadelphia for three of those games, of course. Two of those games, the Dean and Lisenbee games, were old school "the pitcher pitches as long as we need" games, where they just wore it.

Point is, Bergman had a terrible night Tuesday. It was legitimately one of the worst pitched games in history.

Trout's amazing season continues

At this point Mike Trout is so good it's boring. He does amazing things all the time, so they've become routine. Tuesday night he smacked his MLB-leading 15th home of the season:

Trout added a walk later in the game, so his overall season batting line now sits at .343/.465/.753 through 48 team games. Here's what he was hitting through 48 teams the last few seasons:

  • 2016: .320/.411/.562 with 10 home runs
  • 2015: .296/.383/.543 with 10 home runs
  • 2014: .280/.370/.543 with 10 home runs
  • 2013: .306/.383/.580 with 10 home runs 

Trout was named AL MVP in both 2014 and 2016, and he is currently well ahead of the pace he had in those seasons.

Conforto hits two more home runs

Coming into the season, the Mets had no way to get young Michael Conforto into the starting lineup regularly. They had three veteran outfielders (Yoenis Cespedes, Curtis Granderson, Jay Bruce) all making big money, so of course those guys would get the playing time priority. Manager Terry Collins tends to lean on his veterans.

Cespedes' hamstring injury has pressed Conforto into everyday duty, and thus far he's responded in a huge way. Conforto hit two home runs Tuesday night, his 12th and 13th home runs of the season.

Here is the full list of players with more home runs than Conforto this season:

  1. Mike Trout -- 15
  2. Aaron Judge -- 15
  3. Bryce Harper -- 14
  4. Freddie Freeman -- 14
  5. Joey Gallo -- 14

That's it. And remember, Conforto was a part-time player the first few weeks of the year. His season batting line is up to .333/.425/.713. Collins will have no choice but to keep the kid in the lineup once Cespedes gets healthy. The veterans are going to lose playing time.

Blackmon leads first-place Rockies to another win

There is just no stopping the Colorado Rockies. The first-place Colorado Rockies, that is.

The Rockies extended their winning streak to a modest three games with a win over the Phillies on Tuesday night, and leadoff Charlie Blackmon led the way with two two-run home runs:

The Rockies have now won six of eight games on their current road trip.

At 17-7, the Rockies have the most road wins in baseball this season, and the second best road winning percentage (.708) behind the Astros (15-6, .714). Colorado has outscored their opponents by 29 runs on the road this year. At home, they've outscored them by one run.

The Rockies sit atop the NL West standings at 30-17, which is the best record through 47 games in franchise history. Next best is the 27-20 start by the 1995 squad. With a powerful offense, a rebuilt bullpen, and a rotation loaded with impressive young arms, the Rockies look very much like a team on the rise. Do not overlook them. If you're waiting for the other shoe to drop, you might be waiting a long time.

Bautista starts at third base

With Josh Donaldson still sidelined by an ongoing calf issue, the Blue Jays turned to a familiar face at third base Tuesday: Jose Bautista. Bautist made his first start at the hot corner since 2013.

Bautista played third base on two other occasions this season, totaling four innings. He did not play the position at all from 2014-16. It's been six years since Bautista, who came up through the minors as a third baseman way back in the day, last played the hot corner regularly.

Already this season the Blue Jays have used six players at third base, including Donaldson and Bautista. Darwin Barney leads the club with 31 games at the position. All told, Blue Jays third basemen are hitting .240/.303/.353 with four home runs in 45 games this season. That's a far cry from the MVP caliber production they're used to getting from Donaldson.

Lindor continues power breakout

There's not much Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor can not do on a baseball field. He's a superb defender, and on offense he combines a discerning eye with elite bat-to-ball skills from both sides of the plate. And so far this season, Lindor is hitting for much more power than he did a year ago, when he was an All-Star and finished ninth in the AL MVP voting.

Tuesday night, Lindor smacked his 10th home run of the season:

Last season Lindor hit 15 home runs in 158 games, so he is well ahead of that pace. He's up to 10 homers in 44 games this year. Last year he hit his 10th home run in his 72nd game.

There aren't more than a handful of players I would take over Lindor for the next 10 years. He is a franchise player in every single way.

Schwarber visits Sheffield Ave.

For the first time since the bleacher renovations at Wrigley Field, a player has hit a home run onto Sheffield Avenue. The player: Kyle Schwarber. He hit this mammoth blast out of the ballpark against Johnny Cueto on Tuesday night:

Geez. You could tell that was hit a mile just by the swing. Schwarber has that short yet oh so powerful swing. The estimated distance on that dinger was 476 feet.

Hitting a home run literally out of a major-league stadium must be the coolest feeling ever.

Quick hits

  • A new trend in baseball is emerging, as Tigers OF Anthony Gose and Dodgers OF Brett Eibner will start pitching in hopes of becoming true two-way players. The Padres tried it with Christian Bethancourt earlier this year.
  • Rangers LHP Cole Hamels played catch for the first time since being placed on the disabled, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Hamels has been out with an oblique injury since May 2. He is expected to be out until July.
  • Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre could begin playing in minor-league rehab games as soon as this weekend, according to MLB.com. He has not played at all this season due to a lingering calf issue.
  • Pirates RHP Jameson Taillon threw 25 pitches in the bullpen, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Taillon had surgery to treat testicular cancer on May 8. There is no firm timetable for his return at the moment.
  • The Dodgers have activated 3B Logan Forsythe off the disabled list, the team announced. He missed a month with a fractured toe. RHP Josh Ravin was sent to Triple-A in a corresponding roster move.
  • Blue Jays RHP Aaron Sanchez has not yet resumed throwing, according to Sportsnet. Sanchez is on the disabled list for already the third time this season with a fingernail issue. The club will be extra cautious this time around.
  • Rockies RHP Jon Gray is still three weeks away from returning to the team, manager Bud Black said during an MLB Network Radio interview. Gray has been out since April 13 with a broken foot.
  • Both RHP Seth Lugo (elbow) and SS Asdrubal Cabrera (thumb) will play minor-league rehab games Tuesday, according to the New York Times. Cabrera has been out a little more than a week. Lugo has yet to pitch this season.
  • Nationals IF Stephen Drew could soon begin playing in minor-league rehab games, according to MASN Sports. Drew has been out nearly six weeks with a hamstring injury. He could return next week if all goes well.
  • Red Sox IF Marco Hernandez will have shoulder surgery on Friday, the team announced. The surgery will end his season. Hernandez, who's seen time at third base this season, hurt his shoulder making a play in the field last month.
  • Veteran OF Michael Bourn exercised an out clause in his minor-league contract with the Orioles, reports MASN Sports. Bourn had been with the club's Triple-A affiliate. He is now a free agent.
  • The Giants are selling the rights to OF Chris Marrero to the Orix Buffaloes in Japan, reports the San Jose Mercury News. Marrero won a spot on the team's Opening Day roster after a big spring, but he fizzled out soon thereafter.
  • The Indians have signed OF David Lough to a minor-league deal, the club announced. He had been released by the Tigers a few weeks ago. Lough is a defensive specialist and will give the Indians some extra depth.